Means for insulating rail-joints.



E. F. SCHERMERHORN.

MEANS FOR msuunmc RAIL JOINTS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 17. I914. 1,1649%. Patented Dec.14,1915.

. 2 SHEETS -SHEET L E. F. SCHERMERHORN.

MEANS FOR INSULATING RAIL JOINTS.

APPLICATHON FILED AUG.I7. m4.

1 $64,026. Patented B00514, 1915.

n rare-e ATENT OFFICE.

EDWARDS F. SCHERMEBHORN, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO THE RAIL JOINT COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

MEANS FOR INSULATING RAIL-JOINTS.

' Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 114, 1915.

Application filed August 17, 1914. Serial No. 857,162.

proved means for insulating the same in'a novel manner whereby the insulating material may be used to the best advantage both electrically and mechanically.

It is well known that in insulated rail joints there is a tendency of the insulation under the headof the rail to break and cut out. Usually, the breaking down of the insulating material occurs first under. the head of the receiving rail, and the tearing and crushing action is soon communicated to that portion of the fiber under the head of the leaving rail. To reduce the cost of repairs to a minimum produced by this action the insulating material has been divided into upper and lower sections and is commonly known as divided or two part insulation, the upper portion being for thehead and the lower portion for the flange of the rails. The description and illustrations herewith show this invention to be applied particularly to divided or two part insulation joints but it may be applied to any type of insulated joint. However, in this application, as well as in its broader application to any kind of insulated rail joint, the principal object of the present invention Is to provide a novel form and arrangement of insulation whereby the same shall possess the property of lubricity, so that the amount of wear on the head portions of the fiber insulation will be materially decreased and the life of the insulation correspondingly increased. 1

A further and practical object of the invention is to provide novel means for insulating a rail joint whereby the same shall possess some of the desirable features of a one-end insulatedjoint, while furthermore being capable of easier and more reliable testing electrically for leakage than is possiture of the invention is better understood,.

the same consists in the, novel construction, combination, and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fully described, illustrated, and

I claimed.

The essential features of the invention involved in the employment of a lubricious insulating unit, and its embodiment in a modified one-end insulated joint to facilitate testing of the latter, are necessarily susceptible of embodiment in various types of rail joints, and adaptable with any form of joint bar or splice of an insulated rail joint, but for illustrative purposes a few practical embodiments of the invention are shown in the accompanying drawings, in whic.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a modified one-end insulated rail joint embodying the improvements of the present invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical cross sectional view of the joint of Fig. 1 through the leaving rail. Fig. 3 isa side view of an insulated rail joint, with the joint bar removed, illustrating a modification of the invention. Fig. 4 is a view similar .to Fig. 3 showing another modification of the invention. Fig. 5 1s a bisected cross sectional view of a rail joint illustrating a minor modification of the invention with respect to the relative thickness of the different insulation plates employed. Fig. 6 is a bisected cross sectional view illustrating a further modification of the invention, more particularly with respect to the base section of insulation for the rail flanges. Like reference characters designate corresponding parts in the several figures of the drawings. a

The improved insulation eXpedients forming the subject matter of this application are intended, as indicated, to be applicable to various kinds of rail joints, and hence available for use with fish plates, plain angle bars, angle bars of the continuous type,

across the joint between them. However, in

that the rail joint therein shown includes in combination with the leaving and receiving rails 1 and 2 respectively, the opposite joint bars 33, of the well known continuous type, and the usual joint bolts 4 for securing the various parts of the joint in their assembled relation. The insulation for this joint includes the insulating end post 5 between the meeting ends of the rails, the bolt insulation 6 of any conventional or approved form, and divided insulation for the joint bars. This divided insulation includes an upper or head section of insulation 7 interposed between the under side of the rail head and the upper edge of the joint bar, and a lower or base section of insulation 8, shown in the form of a cufl, embracing the rail flange and lying'between the latter and the base plate and flange of the joint bar. According to the present invention, in its preferred embodiment, the upper or head section of insulation 7 comprises a Wear-resisting insulating unit which inherently possesses the property of lubricity, and consists ofseparate superimposed insulation plates. These separate superimposed insulation plates, which constitute the insulating units 7-7 are made of the usual fiber sheets or other well known insulating material, and are of the same general form and dimensions throughout so as to constitute a single unit of insulation. It is by reason of this superimposed relation of the separate plates, of the said unit, that the plates exercise a lubricous function due to the fact that they will have a tendency to smoothly slip or glide one upon the other, and thereby take up to an appreciable extent some of the movement which occurs be"- tween the head of the joint bar and the head of the rail which movement is due to traffic conditions and is one ofthe destructive agencies whichcontributes to the quick wearing out of the insulating material. While, as stated, the individual or separate plates of the insulating unit inherently exhibit and exercise a lubricous characteristic, the frict1on between the parts in contact may be further diminishing by oiling or paraflining the fiber parts when placing them in the Joint.

The wear resisting insulating unit may be employed in various ways in constructing an insulated rail joint. For instance, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, one of these units is shown employed as the head section of insulation at each side of the rail between the head of the leaving rail 1 and the head of the joint bar 3, and is combined with a lower or base section of insulation 8 formed of a single sheet'or plate .of fiber or other insulating material. These head and base sections of insulation therefore preserve the conventional arrangement of the well known divided fiber type of insulation for insulated rail joints. Accordingly, in the illustration of Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, the end of the joint embracing the leaving rail is fully insulated upon both sides thereof at the head and base of the rails, while at the other end of the joint embracing the receiving rail 2, a head section of insulation 9 is combined with a metal chafing plate 10, the head section 9 of the insulation being arranged next to the joint bar 3 and over the head of the latter. However, as the metal chafing plate 10 is interposed between the said section of insulation 9 and the under side of the head of the receiving rail 2, the combined thickness of the elements 9 and 10 correspond with the combined thickness of the insulating plaltes 7-7 under the head of'the leaving rai In the form of construction described, the metal chafing plate 10 performs a very desirable function on account of its location directly under the head of the receiving rail, which rail receives the heaviest pounding from the car wheels, and accordingly exercises the greatest wear upon the fiber or insulation. This is relieved to a very great extent by the placing of the metal chafing plate 10 under the head of the receiving rail 2, and, by combining it with the head section 9 of insulation interposed therebetween and the head of the joint bar, the so-called modified one-end insulated joint is produced Which secures some of the desirable features of a one-end insulated joint. This form of joint also has an advantage over the latter by providing an arrangementof the metal parts and insulation parts whereby the joint can be tested electrically for leakage more accurately and easily than in the strictlyone-end insulated joint wherein all of the insulation is confined to one of the rails. In the said strictly one-end insulated joint, as used at present, there is a metal-to-metal contact between the head of the joint bar and the head of the rail on the receiving end. In such a joint, under certain conditions of track circuits, it is difficult to test the same for electrical leakage, because the testing is practically the same as testing from one rail to the other across the end post, and this method of testing is not conclusive on account of each rail being grounded. However, with the present invention as exemplified in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, the test can be made from either rail to the joint plate, the same as in an' all-insulated joint, giving accurate and conclusive proof of electrical breakdown in the insulation, if there is any.

In carrying out the invention, various modifications may be resorted to without sacrificing any of the advantages thereof, and by way of illustrating the range of such modifications, reference is first made to the modification shown in Fig. 5 of the drawings. This figure is illustrative of the fact that each head section or head filler unit, whether composed of superimposed plates of fiber, or of metal and fiber, may not only be made of greater thickness than the base insulation, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, but as shown in said Fig. 5 each head filler-unit plate may be one-half the thickness of the base insulation, so that the double thickness of the said unit is the same as the thickness of the base insulation, in Fig. 5 of the drawings.

A further modification of the invention that may be resorted to is suggested in Fig.

3 of the drawings, which illustrates an insulated rail joint omitting the metal chafing plates herein referred to, and employing the double layered wear-resisting insulating units 7-7 upon both sides of both rails, or this may be further modified by having the double layered wear-resisting insulating units constructed of insulation plates extending the full length of the joint, which construction is shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings.

Furthermore, it will be understood that the present invention is not limited in the application of the Wear-resisting insulating unit exclusively to the head section of insulation, but may be embodied in the base insulation of the joint, as shown in Fig. 6, in which latter adaptation the base insulation, designated 8 8, comprises a unit consisting of superimposed insulation plates having a lubricous movement one upon the other to insure longer wear, as hereinbefore explained.

To prevent displacement or undue creeping movement ofv the insulation and metal plates within the joint, such plates may be secured in their operative positions by any suitable means, such for instance as providing a separably interlocking engagement 11 between the same and the joint bolts, as illustrated in the drawings, said interlocking engagement being characteristic of certain well known forms of divided fiber.

A still further modification of the invention is shown by Fig. 5 of the drawings, wherein is illustrated the expedient of having one of the fiber head pieces of much less depth than the other, as for instance the outer piece which is adjacent to the angle bar may be continueddown to a point short of, and hence above, the joint bolts. This construction would save material in case of renewal.

From the foregoing, it is thought that the construction and advantage of the hereindescribed improvement will be readily apparent without further description, and it will also be understood that various changes in the form, proportion, and minor details.

of construction may be resorted to without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

I claim:

1. An insulated rail joint including, in combination with therails and ajoint bar, a unit of insulation consisting of separate loosely superimposed insulation plates interposed between the head of the joint bar and the under side of the head of the rail.

2. An insulated rail joint including, in combination with the rails and a joint bar, a unit of insulation interposed between the head of the joint bar and the under side of the head of the rail, and consisting of sep-- arate loosely superimposed insulation plates,

and a base section of insulation interposed between a joint bar and one of the rails,

and a separate head unit inter osed between the joint bar and the other rail and consisting of superimposed plates of metal and of insulation.

5. An insulated rail joint including, in combination with the rails and the joint bars, a head unit consisting of superimposed insulation plates interposed between the joint bar and the head of one rail, and another head unit consisting of superimposed plates of metal and of insulation interposed between the jointbar and the head of the other rail.

6. An insulated rail joint including, in combination with the rails and the joint bars, a head unit consisting of superimposed insulation plates interposed between the joint bar and the head of one rail, and another head unit consisting of superimposed plates of metal and of insulation. interposed between the joint bar and the head of the other rail, the said superimposed plates of metal and of insulation respectively contacting with the rail and the joint bar.

7. An insulated rail joint including, in combination with the rail and joint bar, and an insulating unit interposed between the head of the bar and the under side of the rail, and consisting of separate loosely supersulation plates, the plate next tovthe joint s imposed insulation plates, one of said plates bar being of less depth than the other plate. 10

being of less depth than the other. In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my 8. An insulated rail joint including, in signature in the presence of two witnesses.

.--. combination with the rail and joint bar, an EDWARDS F. SGHERMERHORN.

insulating unit interposed between the head Witnesses": ofjthe'bar and the head of the rail, and con- BENJ. E. VVOLHAUPTER, sisting of separate loosely superimposed in- KATHERINE MoNALLY. 

